Abstract: Objective To study the effects of nalbuphine on the proliferation,apoptosis and epithelial mesenchymal transformation (EMT) of colon cancer (CC) cells by regulating Hippo/YAP signaling pathway.Methods Human colon cancer cell line HCT-116 was cultured in vitro in this study,the activity of HCT-116 cells was first detected by CCK-8 method when the concentration of Nalbuphine was increased,according to the results,the appropriate concentration of Nalbuphine was selected.then,HCT-116 cells were grouped into ctrl group(No other processing is performed),low concentration nalbuphine group (0.10 mmol/L),high concentration nalbuphine group (0.15 mmol/L),and high concentration nalbuphine (0.15 mmol/L)+XMU-MP-1 group (3 μmol/mL Hippo/YAP signal pathway inhibitor).Then,the CCK-8 method was applied to detect the cell proliferation ability of each group;flow cytometry was applied to detect cell apoptosis in each group;Transwell test was applied to detect the ability of cell migration;Western blot was applied to detect the expression of phosphorylated-YAP (p-YAP),YAP,PCNA,BAX,and EMT-related protein E-cadherin,N-cadherin,Vimentin,Snail of cells in each group.Results The results show that compared with the ctrl group,the survival rate of HCT-116 cells,the number of cell migration,the expression of YAP and PCNA,N-cadherin,Vimentin,Snail proteins in the low concentration nalbuphine group and the high concentration nalbuphine group decreased,the cell apoptosis rate,the contents of p-YAP,BAX,and E-cadherin increased (P<0.05);compared with the high concentration nalbuphine group,the survival rate of HCT-116 cells,the number of cell migration,the expression of YAP and PCNA,N-cadherin,Vimentin,Snail proteins in the high concentration nalbuphine+XMU-MP-1 group increased,the cell apoptosis rate,the contents of p-YAP,BAX,and E-cadherin decreased (P<0.05).Conclusion It is concluded that Nalbuphine may inhibit the proliferation of CC cells,promote cell apoptosis,and affect the epithelial mesenchymal transformation by activating Hippo/YAP signaling pathway.

Key words: Nalbuphine; Hippo/YAP signaling pathway; colon cancer; proliferation; apoptosis; epithelial mesenchymal transformation